We are all hardwired to recognise beauty in the world – whether it be the subtleties and juxtapositon of colour, the way light falls onto an object/person, or a particular proportion.
The way we interpret that beauty and document it makes us universally unique.
We all have a valid and authentic voice and have a certain responsibility to try to put that across in our art.
So what makes good art? Let’s start with composition – not every artist has this gift, but it is definitely teachable. Even though we might not be totally aware of all the aspects of a well composed picture, we are immediately attracted to one on a subconscious level. There is an inherent balance to it. Colour and technique are more difficult to pin down. A thickly impasto’d colourful abstract painting can be as attractive to some as a relatively smooth-surfaced realistically painted one. That seems to be down to personal preference.
Observations made at the Venice Art Biennale have certain paintings doing better than others in sale. Red and blue paintings with a happy aspect sell better than darker more sombre ones. Of course, this may change. Size immediately excludes a large section of the market, though there are many very large paintings out there which have sold well – Andy Warhol’s and Richard Prince’s works are but two examples of oversized art that sells for millions of dollars. Tomma Abts’ paintings are small and bely their complexity and genius.
I guess that providing one has the funds available, and the passion for what is beautiful, it won’t matter what size the painting or artwork is – one will make the space for it come hell or high water!
There is a general acceptable limit to a painting these days – that it should be no bigger than a New York elevator door.
Orientation also plays a role – it is said that landscape oriented paintings sell better than portrait oriented ones, though who knows why?!?
Subject matter doesn’t seem to come into it. Our own South African artist, Harold Voigt, was of the opinion that one should try to limit the colours one uses to a combination of 4 colours, but there are literally thousands of successful examples where a lot more than that are used in the painting – examples include Hopper’s paintings.
Artwork By Tomma Abts